Chapter 247: Poaching



Chapter 247: Poaching

"I heard that in the FA Cup final, Southampton's owner Yang Huan made a bet with Abramovich."

Sadie spoke cautiously of the rumors he had heard.

"Bet?" Drogba frowned.

Needless to say, I am definitely Abramovich's bet.

"I heard that Abramovich wanted to poach Neymar, but Southampton refused to sell him, so he proposed a bet. If he lost, Southampton would have to agree to put Neymar on the transfer market."

Drogba had a serious look on his face. He felt really bad about being the pawn of others.

"Go on."

Sedi sighed, “Not just you, Matic and Sturridge are also bets.”

Drogba sneered at this.

At least, I am not alone, I have two companions.

"Abramovich bet on Manchester United to win, and Yang Huan bet on Southampton to win. In the end, Southampton won, and Abramovich lost three players."

Perhaps to make Drogba feel better, or perhaps the news he heard was indeed true, Sedi's next words did try to change the image of Yang Huan, the future boss.

"I heard that it wasn't originally designated as yours. It was just said that if Abramovich lost, they could pick any player in the Chelsea team. But after Yang Huan won, he said that he only liked Drogba in the entire Chelsea team."

Drogba listened and his chest rose high.

It can be seen that the young boss of Southampton is very knowledgeable.

The most hateful thing is Abramovich, who actually used all the players in the team as bets. It's outrageous!

"Does everyone else in the team know?" Drogba asked calmly.

Sadie thought about it and shook his head: "I don't know."

But soon, he added another sentence.

"But I believe that we should have heard some rumors."

If even I can collect this kind of information, those large brokerage firms must have collected more and be closer to the real inside story.

"With what he did, the team's morale is sure to plummet!" Drogba sneered disdainfully.

Sedi was also somewhat helpless. "For wealthy people like them, how can they care about what the players think?"

With millions or tens of millions of pounds on the line, who cares what the players think?

If we have that much time, we can make more money and bring in more superstars.

"I also heard that Southampton has just completed a transfer worth 60 million pounds."

"Sixty million pounds?" Drogba's dark face was filled with shock.

"who?"

Sedi shook his head. "I don't know. I just heard someone mention it. They said that Southampton has already booked this summer's transfer target in advance!"

Who said it wasn’t?

In such a depressed transfer market right now, they actually spent 60 million pounds to introduce a midfielder?

"It seems that this Championship team is really ambitious!" Drogba has changed his view of Southampton.

If Drogba puts aside the possibility of being a substitute for Ibrahimovic and if Southampton promises him a starting position, he feels that given the team's ambition and courage, it would not be a bad idea for him to go and play for the team.

But now, whenever he thought about the fact that he would be a substitute for Ibrahimovic, he felt very uncomfortable.

Why?

Just because he joined a year earlier than me?

"Sedi." Drogba's eyes flashed with determination.

He has also experienced countless ups and downs, and his heart has been tempered and become very firm.

"Yeah." Sadie listened carefully.

"Let's go to Southampton!"

"Really going?" Sadie was a little surprised.

Drogba nodded heavily. "Since they don't take us seriously and don't want to keep us, there's no point in staying!"

Sadie thought about it and nodded, thinking it made sense.

"Ibrahimovic is very strong, but I, Drogba, am not a pushover either. No matter how strong he is, I will compete with him to see who is the best center forward in the world!" When saying this, Drogba exuded the domineering aura of a Warcraft.

This is the aura that the world's top center forward, Drogba, should have.

Sadie was immediately deeply touched.

As long as Drogba wants to do it, he believes that there is nothing he can't do.

"As for Chelsea and Abramovich, they will definitely regret their decision now!"

Drogba clenched his fists so hard that his veins were exposed. He gritted his teeth and spoke word by word.

"One day, I will settle today's grudges with them once and for all!"

…………

…………

Entering the second half of June, with the U21 European Championship and Toulon Tournament coming to an end, the America's Cup began to enter the fans' field of vision.

Although Southampton is a Championship team, two players were able to participate in the America's Cup.

They are Vidal, the main midfielder of the Chilean national team, and Neymar, the talented star of the Brazilian national team.

As for another player who performed well, James Rodriguez, he has not yet been selected for the Colombian national team, but he represented Colombia in the Toulon Tournament and defeated the French team of Pogba and Schneiderlin to win the Toulon Tournament.

As the new season approaches, the transfer market has become hot and explosive news has been reported frequently.

The most glorious among them is undoubtedly Chelsea.

After signing Benatia and Adam Lallana from Southampton for £30 million and £40 million respectively, Chelsea continued their big move by signing young player Lukaku from Anderlecht in Belgium for £22 million.

This is a rookie center who is regarded by the outside world as the new Warcraft.

In addition, midfielder Meireles was brought in from Liverpool for 15 million pounds.

After taking office, new coach Villas-Boas threatened to carry out drastic reforms on Chelsea to restore the Blues' competitiveness.

This Portuguese coach, who is regarded by the outside world as Mourinho II and has just led Porto to win the treble, is also highly anticipated by Chelsea fans.

Manchester United was not to be outdone. After Arsenal snatched away youngster Chamberlain from Saints, Ferguson successively brought in goalkeeper De Gea from Atletico Madrid, Phil Jones from Blackburn, and winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa for around 20 million pounds.

With three transfers and a cost of nearly 60 million pounds, Manchester United's plans for the new season can be described as ambitious.

It is widely rumored that Ferguson persisted on all three fronts last season, but was very dissatisfied with only winning the league title in the end. He is determined to make a difference in the Champions League and domestic cup competitions in the new season.

As Manchester United's arch-rival, Manchester City is also making quite a bit of noise.

They poached Nasri, the star player, and Clichy, the main left-back, from Arsenal, introduced midfielder Hargreaves from Manchester United, and introduced Argentina's main striker Aguero from Atletico Madrid for 45 million pounds.

All these measures make people full of expectations for Manchester City's new season.

Even after clearing out stars such as Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Boateng, Bellamy and others, Manchester City's lineup is still astonishingly large, and its strength is steadily improving. It is one of the favorites to win the Premier League in the new season.

While the media in Britain, Europe and even the world are generally hyping up the wealthy Premier League giants, they always mention Southampton Saints intentionally or unintentionally.

Even many reporters have not noticed that since some time ago, Southampton has been included in the ranks of teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc.

This ranking is very strange and the logic is also very weird.

Because Southampton is a Championship team, but teams like Manchester United are all Premier League giants.

However, when talking about the Premier League, it is always inevitable to mention Southampton.

There are even many fans who pay close attention to Southampton's every move.

While the Premier League giants were spending lavishly on signings in the transfer market, Southampton sold off eleven players including captain Adam Lallana and main center back Benatia.

It's really a big hemorrhage!

This also makes people pay close attention to Southampton.

After selling the players, they recovered a total of over 100 million pounds, and after signing multiple sponsorships such as Chiron, Heineken, Nike and Adidas, Southampton's financial resources are definitely not a problem.

But as of late June, the team has not made any moves in the transfer market.

This has also caused concern among many Saints fans.

Especially when Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and other giants are making big signings.

There are constant rumors in the media, and many media even suspect that Southampton can no longer hold on.

Just as the fans were eagerly waiting, Southampton took the lead in announcing that the team had signed England international center back Gary Cahill from Bolton for £7 million.

The England star attracted the attention of several Premier League teams including Manchester United last summer and was valued at 25 million pounds.

But no team took action.

This summer, with only one year left on his contract, Sun Yue went north to Bolton on behalf of Southampton and negotiated for the England international. The price of 7 million pounds was a good deal.

This was also interpreted by the outside world as Southampton filling the vacancy left by Benatia's transfer.

But some people are still worried about whether the team's central defender combination of Varane and Gary Cahill can meet the team's multi-line operations in the new season, and whether young player Nastasic can bring help to the team.

This is also the concern of many people.

The day after announcing the signing of Gary Cahill, Southampton officially announced again that the team had signed young player Danny Sturridge from Chelsea, and the transfer fee was not disclosed to the public.

Chelsea's official website also announced the news at the same time.

This immediately caused a strong reaction from the outside world.

Southampton actually went to poach players from Chelsea?

Awesome, it’s really awesome!

Saints fans were even more excited on the Internet.

"Aren't you Chelsea here to poach our players? In return, we will poach yours too!"

But soon, Chelsea fans hit back.

"We poached two of you, and you only poached one of us. Why are you so arrogant?"

However, the next day, Southampton club quickly gave the fans the weapons to fight back again.

The official website and WeChat simultaneously announced that the team has introduced Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic from Chelsea.

As for the transfer fee, it has not been announced to the public yet.

Southampton fans went wild at this.

"Two against two, it's even!"

"Do you know why I didn't announce the transfer fee? I'm saving your face, okay?"

"Wow, The Sun said these two players are free transfers!"

"Southampton got a great bargain. Look at Sturridge and Matic. Their strength is unquestionable!"

"Chelsea is being taken advantage of, no explanation needed!"

"Now I finally understand. The team's transfer operation is really powerful, isn't it?"

"Three players, strengthening three positions, front, middle and back. Very pragmatic!"

"I've already said it before, Master Huan will never let us down!"

"Long live Master Huan, keep poaching players from Chelsea, we support you!"

Some Chelsea fans have also begun to question the management's transfer operations, believing that it is a rip-off to bring in Adam Lallana and Benatia at such a high price but send Sturridge and Matic away for free.

"We have reason to suspect that the management has received money from Southampton?"

Even many Chelsea players expressed their incomprehension of the team's transfer operations when interviewed by the media.

This even includes leaders like captain Terry and Frank Lampard.

But Chelsea’s troubles have nothing to do with Southampton.

The day after announcing the signing of Matic, Southampton held a press conference on WeChat for Gary Cahill, Sturridge and Matic.

With the experience from the last operation, I was more skilled in operating it this time.

In addition, the number of WeChat users is close to 400 million, and as a result of the impact of Ibrahimovic's press conference last year, this press conference also attracted the attention of over one million WeChat users.

Most of them are British users.

After this press conference, Yang Huan sent a WeChat message with just one sentence.

"Who's interested in meeting me at Heathrow Airport tomorrow morning at 9:30?"

Although it was only one sentence, it was forwarded by countless football fans and fans who follow Yang Huan.

Even major British newspapers reported on this statement based on hearsay.

Many people are wondering who the player Yang Huan is going to pick up at the airport is?

Could it be the Drogba who has been rumored for a long time?

But soon, this was written off.

The reason is simple. Drogba was already in London, so why bother going to Heathrow Airport to pick him up?

As a result, early the next morning, Heathrow Airport was packed with thousands of Saints fans from Southampton, London and surrounding areas, as well as reporters and interview teams from major media outlets in the UK and Europe.

Even BBC, Sky, Independent and other TV stations have specially arranged filming crews to go to Heathrow Airport.

From the look of things, people who didn’t know would think it was a foreign leader visiting.

Who would have thought that all this was caused by just one sentence from our Young Master Huan?


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